


a universe emerging from a wish

by jelliebean



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Getting Together, Love Potion/Spell, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, Tony Stark Hates Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-01
Updated: 2017-07-01
Packaged: 2018-11-21 18:06:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11362788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jelliebean/pseuds/jelliebean
Summary: This is just fluffy. Set after Avengers 1, but probably before anything else.everyone magically falls in love with tony. everyone except steve.  sort of.





	a universe emerging from a wish

**Author's Note:**

> Someone mentioned this idea to me and it just didn't leave me alone. It was maybe from a prompt generator? Or like a donation? Or a request to someone else? I didn't get it directly from the source. If it was your idea, lmk what you want me to do with it?

The day the whole team was hit by the spellpowder, Tony had already been ranting about how much he hated magic. Magic was the worst. It defied all boundaries of rationality, of proof, of science.  Ever since he’d met Loki, he swore he’d rather fight a thousand mad scientists with a thirst for his blood than tangle with another magician, sorceress, or warlock.  You just couldn’t tell what would happen. 

Well, he thought in retrospect, he should have been more specific.  Because he got a witch who was also a mad scientist.  Goddamnit, that wasn’t what Tony meant.

The witch (Tony was half convinced it was just Loki, in disguise, the slippery little shit) threw down a golden apple. It hit the ground in the exact middle of all of the Avengers, precisely on Steve’s boot, dissipating into a cloud of lavender smoke that set everyone coughing.  Everyone but Tony, who quickly captured a sample in one of his spare vials.  The lavender evaporated, leaving the team generally unscathed looking.  After asking Jarvis about the air quality, Tony lifted the face mask. 

“You guys okay?” he asked. “What kind of effects are you experiencing?”

The Avengers looked at him in unison.

“I don’t know, Tony.  What kind of experience are you offering?” Natasha asked, her voice sultry.

Tony took a step back, rightfully alarmed.

“Man of Iron, you have vanquished a truly worthy foe. Let us feast tonight, in celebration of your heroism!” Thor enthused, waving Mjolnir. 

“Actually, she just sort of disappeared.  I don’t think I did any vanquishing,” Tony admitted.  He was certainly a hero, and recognition was nice, but it was a little uncalled for, in this case.

Hulk handed Tony a sunflower, roots still intact.

“Um, thanks, buddy,” Tony said.  “Don’t you think some hipsters are going to miss their gardening project? It’ll probably interrupt their organic salads if we take this.”

“Hulk hate hipsters,” Hulk grunted.

“Well, we all do, but we can’t just run around stealing their produce,” Tony responded.

This was a little weird.  Weird wasn’t really good for data though. Hard to quantify the effects of the apple if “weird” was all he had to go on. 

“Let’s get this cleaned up and get back to the Tower. Do your tox screens ASAP.  I want to do a debrief in an hour,” Steve said, voice steady and sexy and well, normal. “Tony, looks like your tech saved you from being dosed by whatever that was.  We should think about incorporating something similar in our go-bags.  Do you think you could create something for the rest of us?”

Thank god, someone was acting normal.  Maybe Steve had metabolized it quickly. That meant the others should be er, less-weird relatively soon.

“Sure, Cap,” Tony said.  “I can probably get something put together tonight.”

Steve smiled at him, pure sunshine. “Great! Don’t worry about it tonight, though. You did good work out there.  Besides, we’re supposed to have a movie night tonight, and I wanted to watch the one with the clones.”

“No,” Tony said. “No, no, no.  I’ve told you a million times.  We pretend that one doesn’t exist!”

“Clint told me I had to watch them in ord—“ Steve began, eyes innocent and wide.

“Steven. You are such an ass!” Tony exclaimed.  Fucking Rogers, trolling him about the first Star Wars movies.  Tony told Jarvis to delete them from the catalogue, but they kept popping back up in the queue on movie night. At first he’d thought it was Clint, but now his money was on Steve.

“I might forget, Tony,” Steve confided, his face perfectly straight.  “You’d better come to movie night to make sure I don’t start with the wrong one.”

Tony shoved him. It didn’t even phase the bastard, he just laughed and made his way to the quinjet, picking up Tony’s broken left shin guard on the way. Tony followed so he could ogle that perfect backside, handing the sample to a SHIELD lackey.

\--

An hour later, Tony was freshly showered and ready for a debrief. He knew Steve would keep it quick, since they were supposed to go get Thai food for the team.  Sometimes they got delivery, but they liked to go to the Thai place together. It was a nice walk, and the owners were sweet.  Tony didn’t say so, but he thought Steve liked to check up on them, especially since they were empty nesters now. Besides, Mrs. Srisati doted on Steve, always stuffing the bag with a few extra boxes of something spicy. Couldn’t blame her, though. Steve was always hungry, and always charming without trying to be. That guileless appeal was one of Tony’s favorite things about him.  Although if he was making a list, it probably wouldn’t even rank in the top ten. Top twenty, even.  He shoved the thought aside. _Teammates_ , he admonished himself. Besides, Steve was Captain America.  Eventually he was going to find himself a pretty little nurse and buy a house with a white picket fence and have a kid and two and a half dogs.  Or something like that.  Tony might be flexible on a sexuality spectrum, but Steve, he was sure, was solidly in the “straight” category.

Steve was already in the conference room, scanning his notes.  He smiled at Tony when he came in.  Tony sat down next to him.

“Did you already call in the order?” he asked.

Steve nodded.  “Yeah, I got the regular order, plus three of the beef salad this time, since Thor ate one by himself. And your eggplant drunken noodles.”

Tony grinned.  Steve always remembered to order that for him, even though no one else touched the stuff.

Steve set down his notes as the others filtered in.  Hulk was still Hulked out, which was a little strange.  It was very strange, actually. If Steve metabolized the powder, Hulk should have by now, too. They were almost always at the same metabolic rate.  Funny the things you learn, working on this team, Tony thought.  Weirder still, Hulk seemed to have made red velvet cupcakes with yellow frosting, which he placed in front of Tony with a grunt. Natasha came in just behind him wearing what could euphemistically be described as a dress.  She ran a hand over Tony’s shoulder as she walked by him, winking.  Tony shrank back a little into his chair.  Steve saw the interaction and frowned, so Tony sat up a little straighter.  He didn’t want Steve to think he was going to be bad for group morale, he just didn’t know what Natasha was playing at. Finally Thor swept into the room, tossing his hair back over his shoulder. 

“Um, Thor?” Steve said, hesitantly.

“Yes, shield-brother?”

“Why did you bring a goat?” Steve asked, looking at what appeared to be a very confused goat now sitting on the conference table.

“It is for the feast tonight.  I shall slaughter it in honor of Iron Man and his valiant deeds!”

“How cave-man of you,” Natasha put in, peevishly.

“Er, Tony, do you…” Steve began, looking over at him. He clearly didn’t know exactly how to finish the question. Maybe this was some sort of post-witch ritual on Asgard?

Tony jumped in for him. “Thor, I appreciate the offer, but Steve and I are gonna pick up Thai for the team so we can have it during movie night.”

“Leave Steven here, Tony. I will accompany you to retrieve the Thai victuals,” Thor demanded.

Tony could feel Steve tense.  Were the tall blondies having some sort of argument? Who argued with America’s Golden Boy? Tony excepted, anyway.  For that matter, who argued with a literal demigod? Tony had always thought Thor was one of the most laid-back of all of them. Give the man a beer and some Super Smash Bros (it was the hammer, obviously, he loved the hammer) and he was happy.

“It’s okay, Thor.  Steve and I always go to the Thai place,” he tried. 

“Maybe you should look for some new company then,” Natasha purred. “Wouldn’t want you to get bored.”

“I’m not bored,” Tony said, quickly.  He was not going to lose out on Steve time. And he didn’t want Steve to think he was getting bored of his company.  They’d started out a little rough in the beginning, back when Tony had thought Rogers was a bit of a grandpa and Steve thought Tony was flighty.

“But I will carry the provender back to the tower for you, Tony, in my well-muscled arms,” Thor countered, flexing. 

What the hell was going on?

Hulk pushed his tray of cupcakes closer to Tony’s face. “Oh, I suppose you wanna go too, big guy?” Tony asked Hulk, sarcasm rich in his voice. 

“Thai food,” Hulk grunted affirmatively.

Jesus, when did picking up Thai food become a field trip? It had always been just him and Steve, and he liked it. It was time he got just with Steve.  It felt special, even if it was all in his head.  But Steve would always do stupid little shit like hold the door open for him and he even paid for the order, if he could sweet talk Mrs. S into taking his credit card instead of Tony’s.  It didn’t always work, but he tried. It made him happy, just hanging out together, getting him to smile.  

Tony turned to Steve, helpless and flustered.  For a second, he could have sworn that Steve looked… Something. But then it was gone, and he was grinning at Tony. “Oh I see how it is.  Don’t worry about it—I’ll get the clones all set up.”

“Damnit, Steve,” Tony began, “we don’t talk about the clones!”

Laughing, Steve got down to business.  He laid out the aerials, pointing out where they’d done well.  He noted the shortening transition time for Hulk, and Thor’s lack of collateral damage, which is when Tony noticed that someone was trying to play footsie.  He wasn’t sure who it was.  Not Steve—he was at the front of the room. That was a letdown.  If there was anyone he’d like to be feeling up right now, it was the team leader currently trying to run a meeting. And his motivation wasn’t even to get out of a meeting this time, he just genuinely wanted to peel that shirt right off him and run his tongue down his chest.  But he always wanted to do that, so it wasn’t about evading the debrief. His mind wandered, as he deconstructed the word “debrief” into other, more enjoyable meanings that he could be doing to Steve. De-boxer-briefing, so to speak. So basically this was just like any other Tuesday. Except someone was rubbing a foot up his calf. He twitched, drawing his legs under him and glaring around the table.

Steve paused for a second, noticing the movement, then continued, praising where Natasha had taken out the witch’s rabid wolf friend without drawing any attention. She winked at Tony. Maybe it had been her? If so, she had very large feet for a woman, which he felt like he would have noticed.

Finally, Steve commended Tony’s switch-backs and his communication.  Steve always wanted more communication, and Tony was trying.  He preened internally, giddy and blushing, but just nodded at Steve. “No prob, Cap. Whatever you need.”

“I would like to communicate more with you, Tony,” Thor announced, waggling his eyebrows in a manner he seemed to think would be suggestive. 

“Right, well, um, speaking of communication, has anyone heard from Jane recently?” Tony asked desperately.  He was very confused.  Maybe Thor didn’t realize what he was implying.  After all, Asgardians were bound to have different customs and social cues.

Thor just shook back his hair, smiling flirtatiously.

Jesus.

At the front of the room, Steve raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.  He added a note about the filtration masks for the team and then asked for team input.

“Iron Man was valiant and brave today, as he always is. I should like that to go into our team records,” Thor declared. He tucked a strand of hair behind his ear.

“Noted,” Steve replied, evenly. Why wasn’t he a little more weirded out by what was going on? Shouldn’t he, of all people, be focused on the team acting like normal?

“And he looks handsome in red,” Natasha added.

Tony gaped at her. 

Steve turned to look at him with a tiny shrug.  “Sure,” he said, a wry grin crossing his face.

Tony closed his mouth.  Maybe Rogers was putting them all up to this, in return for the other day when Tony had Rickrolled him.

Hulk grunted.  He wasn’t really much one for words.  

Steve dismissed the team, reminding Natasha to pick up extra chili sauce for Tony’s drunken noodles. He grabbed Tony on his way out to talk about the filtration systems.

“I know you always put us first, Tony, but you should relax tonight.  You’ve earned it,” Steve told him earnestly.  “I’ll help you sketch it out tomorrow if you want.  I mean, I know it’s not a lot of help to do it the archaic way, but anything I can do.”

Score.  He got Steve time tomorrow, too, and it was for the team.  That was a net win for him, even if everyone else on the team was freaking out and he had to walk to Mrs. S’s with a giant green Hulk, an assassin, a demigod, and a goat.

\--

That short walk was chaos.  On the way back to the tower, Tony finally gave up and called Steve.  

“Cap, I’m sorry, but Hulk just threw half the food in the gutter and Thor fried the rest with Mjolnir.  I have no idea what’s going on, but---hey! Stop that! Steve, we’re not bringing dinner home.  There’s no way I can go back there and—Natasha, put the goat down! No, I—no! I don’t need an ode! Jesus I gotta go.”

Steve looked at the phone in his hands and sighed.  Today was turning out to be not so great. The witch was gone, but they hadn’t captured her.  No Thai food, and his pseudo-date with Tony had disappeared, too. His teammates were acting bizarre, like they’d just realized how amazing Tony was.  Which, sure, that was fair, but how had they not all seen it earlier? Steve had been trying to fight his feelings for months now, so it’s not like he didn’t understand.  He did. In fact, if anything, he was a little jealous of how confident they were, and how willing Tony was to give up their time together for the others.  Couldn’t really fault Tony for that, though.  He was always busy, and Steve didn’t want to monopolize his time.  Tony probably gave him more time than he really should, anyway. He tried to squish his feelings back where they belonged. 

Well.  At least he didn’t seem to be having any effects from that powder.  Maybe he had just metabolized it faster than the others, but he didn’t feel any different at all. 

He called Tony’s favorite pizza place, ordering eight large pies, two vegetarian (for Hulk, although Bruce seemed to eat anything), two all meat (Natasha’s order, mostly), and four olive and pepperoni (Tony’s choice). Thor ate everything, and lots of it.   

By the time the delivery arrived at the tower, the team was back and squished onto the couch.  Tony was in the middle, looking slightly crowded.  Well, not the middle.  Hulk took up more than half, so he was sandwiched in between a very large Hulk on one side and a slightly smaller Norse god on the other.  Natasha was perched on the back of the couch, playing with his hair. The goat was on the floor. 

Tony tried to get up when the doorbell rang, but it appeared physically impossible from the way he was wedged in between them all.

“Don’t worry about it, Tony.  I’ll get it.  You always do,” Steve told him.  He went downstairs and brought back dinner, setting it on the coffee table with a stack of paper plates.  Then he went to the kitchen and got a pack of rootbeer, placing it so Tony could reach it easily. While Steve situated himself in the available armchair, Thor stripped off his shirt, claiming the garment interfered with his enjoyment of watching films. Natasha rolled her eyes.

Steve knew Star Wars was one of Tony’s favorite movies.  “Iconic,” he’d called it. “Formative.”  Still, it was also about space, and Tony’d had an up-close encounter not too long ago.  Normally, Steve sat next to Tony on the couch, but that seat was obviously occupied, and Steve figured he was actually better off in the armchair, where he could keep an eye on Tony more discreetly.  Distract him if he started looking peaky, or just shut the whole thing down entirely.  He could always claim to be too overwhelmed by the special effects, play up the old-guy thing. He could usually still get away with that.

The movie went off without a hitch. It was a good adventure, plenty of teamwork. Steve liked it, which he knew pleased Tony. Han Solo sort of reminded him of Tony, actually, always covering up the softie inside with bravado and roguish charm.  Steve snuck glances toward Tony just to check, just to make sure, during some of the open space scenes.  Tony caught him looking, and just smiled.

“It’s okay,” he said, knowing exactly what Steve was looking for.  Steve smiled back, comforted. 

When it was over, Tony yawned and tried to stretch, tired from playing referee with the bickering team. “Alright, guys, I guess it’s time to call it a night,” he said, waiting for someone to get up so he could stand. 

“Why, Tony, do you not want to stay up with me? I can show you how Asgardians call it a night,” Thor rumbled suggestively.

Hulk punched him.

Then he looked guilty and scurried off to his room. 

“Boys,” Natasha said, under her breath.  “But if you want a break from all the testosterone, Stark, you know where to find me.” She trailed her hand down his neck and over his chest.  Steve thought he was going to die.  How many times had he wanted to do the same thing? She walked away, heels clicking as her hips swayed.  Even Steve couldn’t help watching her go.

Right.  He had other things he needed to do.  Like make sure Thor was still breathing.  Steve checked the Asgardian, made sure he was still alive.  He was snoring, actually, so Steve wasn’t too worried.  The goat wandered over and started nibbling on his shirt.  Steve considered shooing the animal away, but then Thor had brought the goat to sacrifice for dinner, so it seemed only fair to let her get a meal in, too.  He let her be.

“You okay?” Steve asked Tony cautiously.

“Yeah, Rogers.  I’m fine.  It doesn’t really look like that, you know?”

“I mean, I don’t. But if you say so; you’re the genius after all.”

“Yep, and this genius needs his sleep.  Today was exhausting.  I hope whatever bit them wears off as they sleep.” Tony didn’t mean to sound bitter, but he couldn’t help it.  He was a genius, after all, and he could put it all together.  They all had some sort of momentary infatuation with him.  Everyone except Steve.  Which was great, it was, really, except that the only person he wanted to be hopelessly besotted with him was the sweet idiot standing in front of him. The only one whose demeanor hadn’t changed at all. 

Still, it was probably better this way.  He didn’t think he could stand it if Steve was enamored with him only for it to be magically induced.  Arc reactor or no, his heart would give out if that love suddenly disappeared. 

“I’ll catch you tomorrow, right? Filtration masks?” Tony tried to keep his voice even, avoid that pleading, needy tone he was feeling. 

“Of course, Tony. I’m looking forward to it.” Steve put his hand on Tony’s shoulder as they walked out of the common room.

See, this was bittersweet.  Tony got Steve’s friendship, his affection.  It might not be exactly the way he hoped, he might not be able to put his tongue where he wanted, but it was good. He was lucky to have it.  Poets always said it was better to have loved and lost, but Tony didn’t think he’d survive it.  Not if it was fake.  Not if he got to taste how it felt to be loved by Steve Rogers, and then have to give it up for good. 

They parted ways, Tony taking the elevator to the penthouse, Steve heading for his suite.  Tony fell asleep that night studiously not thinking about Steve and his glorious sunshine smile and his kind eyes and his mischievous sense of humor and his careful dexterous hands, and his amazing…

\--

In the morning, Tony took the elevator straight to his workshop.  No stopping in the kitchen.  No getting coffee from the big coffee maker.  He was not going to run into anyone today, just in case. 

He started working on taking the suit’s filtration and shrinking all the components down so it was portable, lightweight.  He didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of it earlier. He didn’t bother constructing a design yet.  Steve would come and help him with it.  Did he need the help? No, probably not. But Steve had a good eye for design and he liked helping out.  Tony liked having Steve around.  Win-win.  Besides, Tony was, when it came down to the engineering of things, more function than form. 

If it was a day like any other, Steve should come wandering down in about fifteen minutes with his sketchbook.  Even if they didn’t have a project to work on, he seemed to drift into the workshop anyway.  It was the best part of Tony’s day, although sometimes he was busy and didn’t get to spend as much time talking as he’d like.  A few of his sketches hung around the workshop.  Sometimes Tony thought he should take them down.  They gave him away.  But Steve hadn’t seemed to notice yet, so they weren’t an issue.

Right on schedule, Tony heard Steve’s footsteps coming down the staircase.  A quick conversation with someone, and then Steve appeared outside the door, perusing a paper file.  He closed it, entered his code, and strolled in.  It was quite a balancing act, since he’d brought his sketchbook, the file, two coffees, and had to enter his code.  Tony thought maybe he should write in an auto-open code for Steve.  After all, he was down here almost as much as Tony, and he usually carried in whatever Tony hadn’t wanted to pick up. 

“What’s up, Cap?” he asked.  “How’s the team?”

Steve handed him a coffee. He must have known Tony didn’t stop in the kitchen like normal.  Tony’d said once he didn’t like being handed things.  It was true, but Steve was different. “They’re fine,” Steve told him. “Back to normal.  Apparently the lady was trying to recreate the effects of an infatuation spell through science.  Good news for us, there’s a formula and some pretty good experimental notes. Not even that bad intentions, even.  She posted an open apology last night. She just wants everyone to get along better.”

Trust Steve to see the best in everyone.

“Is that the report from SHIELD?” Tony asked.

“Yeah, Clint just dropped it off on his way back,” Steve replied, although he didn’t turn it over.  “I wouldn’t worry about it right now.  We should work on the mask.”

“I’m a scientist, Steve, it’s what I do,” Tony said, stretching one hand out toward the folder while pouring sand over a filter with the other.

“It’s really more of a biologic,” Steve said, not handing it over.  “Shouldn’t Bruce be the one to take a look?”

“Good point.  Hey, speaking of, how did he metabolize the powder? What was the differential between him, Thor, and Natasha?”

“Hulk shrank down to Bruce around midnight. Took about eight hours.  Thor and Natasha both seem to have burned it off in their sleep—SHIELD’s estimates put it at around 3am, maybe 4.  The lady said she was aiming for a twelve hour dose.  I think she hit it pretty close.  They haven’t shown any symptoms since they’ve woken up, and Nat and I went running at six.”

“Interesting,” Tony said, dumping silver powder over the filter.  That was really precise.  If he didn’t hate magic so much, he might be interested in recruiting the woman.  If she weren’t a witch.  And also crazy.  Then a thought occurred to him. “Wait a sec, Bruce kept it in his system until midnight?”

“Yeah,” Steve said, not seeing where he was going with that particular line of questioning. 

“What about you?”

Well, shit.  “I don’t know.  Maybe I got a lower dose.” He hoped his blush wasn’t giving him away. Stupid fair complexion.

“It landed on your boot,” Tony pointed out, tapping the filter and watching the particles float down. “I was a little worried about you, actually.”

“Right, well, I mean, I guess the serum works differently than Bruce’s thing. Processed it differently,” Steve tried, flailing wildly inside.

“Oh,” Tony said. Then he paused. “No, I looked at his notes, and he got a lot closer than anybody thinks he did.  That should still work the same on you.”

Then he stopped completely.  Put down the filter.  He looked at the coffee cup sitting next to him.  The tight clutch Steve was keeping on the SHIELD notes.  The rosy blush on Steve’s cheeks. 

It was a risk. It was a huge risk. He knew the math. With a deep breath, he took a long look at Steve, lingering on his lips, gave him a thorough once-over.

“Or?” he asked, pushing, angling his body toward Steve. 

Steve noted the way that Tony gazed at him, the way his eyes seemed to run over his body like a physical touch.  He looked briefly at the coffee cup, his sketches affixed to the walls. Tony watched Steve’s face settle into a determined look, his shoulders square.  That was his “Rogers, you can do this, you’ve punched Hitler” face.  Tony loved that face.  It did all sorts of shivery things to him.  He watched Steve move slowly toward him, eyes darkening, tracking his movements, all intent and focus. Unmistakable.  He looked downright predatory.  Damn. 

Steve paused when he was right in front of him. “Stop me if I’m wrong,” he said, low. And then he was kissing him—he, Steve Goddamn Rogers was kissing him, kissing Tony, this was amazing.  This was everything.  Tony leaned in to get a better angle, pulling on Steve’s lip with his teeth, hands dragging Steve’s hips toward his. This was better than he’d ever hoped. Tony was flying high on endorphins and the taste of Steve’s tongue in his mouth when suddenly, he realized, oh Jesus, wait, did he mean…?

If he’d really just metabolized it differently…

Oooh, that was really going to hurt.

He released Steve, smoothed down his shirt, eyes fastened on his collarbone, a place he’d very much wanted to lick next.  He said, calmly, voice steady, “Do you mean you had delayed onset of symptoms?”

He braced himself. He wasn’t sure he could ever be ready.

“Tony,” Steve said, gently. He tipped up his chin so Tony would look at him.  “Tony, I didn’t have any symptoms. Because I always feel that way about you.  I’m always in love with you.”

Tony tackled him, pulling his shirt open, kissing those pink lips, trying to say, “Me too” without removing his tongue from Steve’s mouth. Steve staggered backward and Tony just went with it, climbed up so he was clinging to Steve, trying to eliminate any space between them.  Finally Steve just picked him up, one of those giant, glorious hands supporting Tony’s ass.  Tony gave a very dignified squeak and used the opportunity to shimmy a little closer, now that he knew that the gift in Steve’s pants was really for him and not the product of magic, although it sort of felt magical to him at the moment. 

 

So maybe Tony didn’t hate magic entirely, since it had eventually led to him having a very enthusiastic Steve Rogers as his boyfriend. He was, after all, a scientist at heart, and there were all sorts of experiments he could do with a naked supersoldier in his bed.


End file.
